Where your heart longs to be
by fairestparrillafics
Summary: Things aren't always the fairytale they appear to be. Headed for the malevolent world the second star to the right promises, many challenges face the small group in their quest to find Henry. What they don't know, is that two of their gang may discover something hidden deep between them, something that brings them closer as they try to find their son. Swan Queen.
1. Chapter 1

"This is…"

"…interesting?"

"Personally, I'd opt for the word disgusting. But I guess interesting covers it,"

Evening was settling onto the horizon. Inviting blends of flaming crimson, pink and orange were splashed against the fading blue tints of the illuminated canvas, giving the impression the entire sky was catching fire. Pleasing sights of an elegant nature, however, were not on the agenda for a certain cluster of women. Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina had been gifted a break from guiding the Jolly Rodger to Neverland and were instead facing the living arrangements the ship presented them with.

"What the _hell_ is this?" Regina said with a slight snarl, pulling at a piece of netted fabric.

"A hammock?" came the blunt answer from Emma.

"Thanks for the enlightenment," was the sarcastic reply, "I'm aware of what it is, the true meaning behind my previous statement was 'does the pirate expect me to sleep in this?'"

"Girls, girls… let's just pick our hammocks with as little arguing as possible. After all, we will be bunk buddies on the trip; it would be good to have a… nice atmosphere," Mary sighed tentatively, picking her words in a careful manner. Words that were met with two exasperated sighs from the other adults in the room. One who chose to murmur about bunk buddies in a deadly fashion under her breath and the other criticizing the hopes of a nice atmosphere under hers.

"Do you mind if I take the one closest to the floor?" Mary decided to ask as no one made any movement to obtain their hammocks. Awkwardly the three had been clustered in the middle of the room. Emma clutching a small bag in her hands, Regina impressively crossing her arms across her middle whilst glaring at the offending sleeping arrangements that were causing such grief and Mary found herself stood in the middle of them, looking between them both, expecting one of them to make the first move. Of course, her companions were too stubborn to do so.

"So… do I get that one?"

"Uh, sure, whatever," Emma shrugged. Waiting for no other invitation escape the other 'bunk buddies', Mary headed toward the lowest hammock on offer sitting down in the middle of it and looking up at the others with slight annoyance.

"Well, I like my space so I'll take the one furthest away from you two, if you don't mind of course," Regina informed Emma, the quickly tacked on politeness resulting in raised eyebrows from the blonde. "I assume you want to stay on the same side as your loving mother, correct?" Regina asked, turning to face Emma when she received no answer.

"The hammock's all yours," Emma finally replied with a tired, stretched smile, heading off towards the hammock residing higher than her mom's, having to use the stump for a step on offer to gain access to it. No sooner had her boots left the platform, the round object suddenly slid towards the other side of the tiny wooden room at the flick of Regina's hand.

With the brunette having used the platform to jump to her new sleeping area, the cabin was met with silence. It wasn't until ten awkward, silence filled minutes had passed that any movement was had. David yelling for assistance on deck which was met with an eager Mary Margaret rushing from the room.

"You'd think she didn't want to be with us," Regina smirked, a small squeaking following her words as the woman had started to swing her hammock back and forth as a source of entertainment. It proved to be the only noise, for Emma was unpacking with silent determination. "Have you suddenly gone deaf? Or even better, mute?" Regina asked with a tired annoyance laced into her words.

"Ha ha," Emma scowled, retrieving a pillow from her bag.

"Seriously?"

"Don't come running to me when you've got pains in your neck," Emma shrugged, "What did you bring?"

"Some books, some clothes, a couple of corpses of my many enemies I've been meaning to dispose of. Chucking them overboard is a good way to dispose of both body and evidence,"

Silence.

"Joking,"

"I know,"

"I couldn't fit a corpse into that bag anyway, it's too small. I'd need my trusty rucksack for that," Regina informed Emma with such seriousness the younger looked up and straight at the woman across from her.

"You're joking right?"

"Do not cross me," Regina replied, jumping from her hammock and surprising Emma by the fact she managed to stay balanced upon impact. It wasn't until she reached the door that she clearly smirked over her shoulder, "That too was a joke, what sort of person do you I think I am?" and with that Regina was gone.

Only to be replaced quickly with the presence of Mary Margaret who worriedly headed towards a confused looking Emma who was still yet to move from her position on the hammock.

"Regina offered to take my place on deck. Did something happen between you two? You didn't have an argument already?"

"No, no… it was weird,"

"What was?"

"She was being friendly, I guess, for Regina. Like, joking with me and stuff," Emma mumbled, looking to her mother with a bewildered glaze in her eyes.

"Well, this should be interesting at any rate. Just… let's not try to provoke her on this trip," Mary softly said, before curling up in her hammock and shutting her eyes as the night began to take hold.

"Yeah, you could end up shoved in a rucksack,"

"What?"

"Nothing, night,"

**Hi, so, I'm Megan and this is my first proper time trying to write a Once fic. So, there will be some changes from the final episodes of the series in regards to how things are managed on the boat, living arrangements, belongings, the duration of the flight etc and no doubt the plot will advance in a way that deviates from the direction series three takes Neverland in. But I hope you enjoy it all the same! I hope the first chapter was enjoyable for you readers, any feedback is very loved and appreciated as I'm always looking to improve. Thank you for reading, the next chapter will be up in time depending on the interest. **


	2. Chapter 2

Night was always the worst time. Wind rocked the ship back and forth, rain shattered down onto the decks and lighting struck with ruthless annihilation in mind - illuminating everything reflective with elegant, deadly effulgence. Whilst the weather was proving to be a force to be reckoned with, it was by no means the worst thing plaguing the inhabitants of the ship. One in particular was suffering greatly, affliction of the mind sending her into a spiraling descent to the depths of the ghastly and nefarious. Visions mockingly filled her thoughts, sending her tossing and turning, crying for help she would never receive…

Waking her up with a pained scream.

Panting, desperate for breath and covered in a cold sweat, one Regina Mills found herself reverting into a weak state thanks to the grim figures attempting to torment her. Unfortunately they were always succeeding in their task. Not one to favor being seen as weak, the brunette quickly snapped her neck around to her companions' hammocks, finding both to be empty. Initially, this sight was a pleasing one. There had been no one to see her battle inner, deadly anguish. Once relief had washed over her, doing nothing to aid with her shaky disposition, confusion gripped at her.

Where could two women go at this time on a foreign ship?

Deciding to join the two in abandoning the cranky bedroom, Regina set off, slipping her legs over the netted side of her sleeping arrangement and allowing herself to drop to the floor with a small thump. Shivering, a mixture of her cold surroundings and her malevolent nighttime experiences, the woman shuffled away through the door and set off on a journey through the damp, wooden corridors the Jolly Rodger presented her with.

It was then an unearthly sound was sent crashing through the woman.

Spinning around, Regina found herself observing a badly put together wooden door, almost hanging from its hinges, but behind it a light was shining through the cracks. Faint and flickering, obviously sourced from one of the lamps Hook had gifted them with just before they had all settled down. It was quite transfixing, not allowing the woman to move from the spot until she jumped back once more as yet another groggy sound was shared. Stepping forward, a well looked after hand gently placed itself on the wood and pushed it open with a creaking swing.

"Wha-?" came the hazy voice, its owner sprawled on the floor and resting its head onto the wooden platform that housed a shakily crafted hole in the middle of it.

"I guess this is sea-sickness?" Regina commented, unable to stop a small smirk tugging at her lips show itself.

"Yeah. Magic boat headed for the second star induced sea-sickness? Is that a thing?" Emma asked, running a hand though her blonde, tangled locks.

"It is now," Regina shrugged, sitting herself down onto the floor as far away from the nauseous Emma as possible without being outside the room and at the other side of the ship.

"This boat…" Emma began, taking a deep breath, "…is stupid,"

"Technically it's a ship, but I agree," Regina informed the sick woman with indifference.

"What are you doing anyway?"

"Plotting your parents downfall, saving my son,"

"No, I mean here. What are you doing here? In this room? Talking to me?"

"You just answered your own question,"

"Haha," Emma sarcastically sighed, before turning around to heave into the wonky disposal hole. Her 'ha's' rolling away into pained groans.

"I was actually going for a walk," Regina sighed, still shivering ever so slightly, standing over and walking over to Emma, "But then I heard something and I thought it was someone raising the dead, but it turned out to be you,"

"Yeah, raising my guts,"

Such a small comment, yet it raised a laugh from Regina who found her trembling, still unrecovered hands reaching outwards and scooping Emma's hair away from her face as she turned her head to throw up again. Once she had finished, Emma began to start a small laugh to match Regina's.

"I know you didn't hate me really," She smirked Regina's way as the other took her hands away from Emma with haste. "Look at us bonding, over my suffering,"

"It's quite nice. The suffering part I mean," Regina informed her with a raised eyebrow.

"You really are the Evil Queen aren't you?" Emma replied, shakily standing up from the floor and looking at Regina for the first time. "You look like I feel,"

"Thanks for that compliment,"

"Are you okay? Do you want to use the throw-y up-y hole thingy?" Emma asked her, gesturing towards it.

"No, no I'm good but thanks for your offer," Regina sighed, "I was intending on going out on deck but… ended up here instead,"

"What happened?"

"Nothing,"

"You don't look like that for nothing. Look at you, you're trembling and everything! Come on Regina, you held my hair for me when I threw up and insulted me whilst you did so, now you have to tell me what's wrong,"

"That's stupid," Regina scowled. Emma shrugged and picked up her water bottle, gone unnoticed before. She poured some into her hands, splashing her face, proceeding to pass it to Regina.

"Seriously, you look sick. This is coming from a really sick person. You need sleep,"

Thoughts of what sleep had in store for her, the pain she would inevitably endure from crumbling into darkness acted as a reflex, making her head shake from side to side in a negative fashion. "I'm not tired; I don't want to go to sleep," Regina mumbled, taking a grateful sip.

"You look like you have two black eyes, you need some rest,"

"Wow, you're so incredibly flattering today,"

"Is it because of Mary Margaret?" Emma asked, determined to find an answer for Regina's uncharacteristically weakened state.

"Why would it be because of her? She isn't even in there to annoy me; I don't know what she's doing…"

"More like who she's doing,"

"Now I need to use your throw-y up-y hole thingy," Regina sighed, not wanting to be a source of comic relief in her slowly declining mood, yet Emma seemed to take great delight in this small comment.

"There's the spirit. But seriously, come on, we should go back to bed," Emma said, walking over to the door and swinging it open, "Make sure you bring the lamp so I can see where I'm going,"

"I can go and get mummy's hand to guide you back too if you like?"

"I ain't touching that hand,"

And with that, the two walked off in total silence. Both reluctant to do so for totally different reasons. Emma, preparing herself for the next wave of sickness to wash over her and Regina terrified to succumb back into the unforgiving darkness that would leave her exposed to the angry and deadly forces that were constantly waiting for her. Forces that were poised for the attack in a place by the name of Neverland.

**Hi! Thank you so much for your views and favorites and follows and reviews! I loved them so much! I hope you guys like this too. Please tell me your feelings surrounding it, I love feedback! I'll try to update soon for you all!**


End file.
